I Love Metaphors and Hope You Do Too!

Have fun on these pages as offered insights, examples, perspectives, and word puzzles (in non-literal comparisons (metaphors and beyond)) on this blog come your way. Please let me know what you enjoy (and what you don’t) as you read and reflect.
Let’s discover, probe, investigate, provoke, and otherwise nudge ourselves toward a better understanding of how people use metaphors and related tropes through shared examples.
For a very long time I’ve been fascinated and taken by how completely (and stunningly swiftly) a metaphor can create awareness or perspective. When children we would delight (typically with gross-out imagery) with how a metaphor or simile could turn a conversation (“. . . that’s as funny as a broken arm.”). And, in intervening decades, legions of academics and other observers have been hard at work trying to discover the secrets to how metaphors work. I hope to offer some related insights—on the run.
Muhammad Ali, the Notorious RBG (Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg), Chief Justice John Roberts, Former President Obama, Bill Gates, and Steve Jobs walk into a bar . . .
What sounds like the worst opening to a joke of all time actually (except for the “walking into a bar” part) offers a pretty good indication of the power of metaphors; each of these powerful leaders, upon finding themselves at a crucial turning point in their career, or life, utilized the power of non-literal comparisons; explaining, provoking, justifying, or featuring their thinking, or actions, as they tried to influence audiences. Think about that; when everything was on the line each leader chose a metaphor to accomplish what they were after. Think about that; if heavy-weight champions, Supreme Court Justices, Presidents, and world-renowned business leaders (and their high-priced advisors) decide that metaphors serve as crucial as a means of persuasion, shouldn’t we pursue how to better understand how they work?
One note on metaphors: careful academic investigation over the last six decades indicates that a similar central dynamic drives all analogies, similes, metaphors, and related tropes; yes, discernible differences exist in form, function, and audience reaction to these various language devices, but they also are quite similar in core meaning creation (or lack thereof); hence, I may use the term “metaphor” in the title of this blog (and in some of my comments) to stand in for any of the rest; rest assured, I do know the difference between a metaphor and a simile.
As a humble, retired college professor, I delight in finding new metaphors (or old metaphors done differently and well); I hope you deeply enjoy this blog.

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After enjoying the blog, for more on all aspects of non-literal comparisons see:  Metaphors and Beyond: The Guide.